Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer Walkthrough :

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Walkthrough - Stormlord FAQ

A Random Guide to the Stormlord of Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
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Greetings and salutations. This guide covers the Stormlord (SL) prestiege
class recently introduced in the NWN2: MOTB expansion.
If you find any errors or have questions, feel free to contact me. I'll fix
the guide or answer questions as best I can. Check Section XII for info.
v1.0 Initial version
v1.1 Minor additions.
V1.2 Added a stormlord pure caster build. Letting everyone know that I am
still alive and that you can email me if desired.
I. Introduction
II. Key Benefits
III. Prerequisites
IV. The Downsides
V. Playstyle Analysis
VI. Companion Classes Analysis(Cleric, Favored Soul, Druid, Spirit Shaman,
Paladin, Ranger)
VII. Skill Analysis
VIII. Feats Recommended
IX. Multiclasses Recommended
X. Build Examples
XI. (new) The CASTER/archer Stormlord concept and build.
XII. Contact Info.
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I. Introduction
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The Stormlord is a prestiege class for divine casters that has FULL spell
progression and focuses on the Spear for melee, and also throwing weapons.
The class is quite strong, especially early on. Note that when epic levels
are reached, most of the benefits become much less impressive as will be
seen shortly. Also, the class is not very versatile. I say this, because
it pretty much forces your character to have one particular playstyle. i.e.
use a spear. Plus, you have to be a melee-based character, since almost all
SL benefits are melee-centric.
That last part is worth repeating. Stormlord is ONLY for melee characters. It
has too many melee-centered requirements to justify taking for a
casting-focused build, with one exception that we will go over later.
SL has moderately hard requirements to take the class, which
limits casual "splashing", of taking a few levels for specific benefits.
That wouldn't do much good anyways because the class grants benefits evenly
throughout the 10 available levels, and thus it is best to take at least 8
levels. In most cases, I recommend taking the full 10 levels.
----------------
II. Key Benefits
----------------
SL provides many solid benefits for a pretty low cost. Several of these
benefits ONLY WORK with a "Stormlord weapon". This is defined as a Spear,
Throwing Axe, Dart, or Shuriken. Any other weapon used will not receive
most of the key benefits of the class.
* Enhanced Weapon - At SL levels 1,6,9, the character receives a +1,+2,+3
enhancement bonus on any SL-weapon. This bonus STACKS with existing
enchantments! Pen and Paper (PnP) purists may complain, but let's
face it.. the ability would be worthless otherwise.
* Shock Weapon - At level 2, the character gains a Clickie for Shock Weapon.
This is basically an unlimited use ability that takes 1 standard round
to activate (like any other item). For the next 20 rounds, your
SL-weapons gain a 1d8 electric damage bonus.
* Shocking Burst - Gained at level 5, this replaces Shock Weapon. It adds
1d8 electric, PLUS a 2d8 massive criticals bonus. Of course, with
a 20x3 range for the spear, don't expect a lot of crits...
* Shocking Burst & Sonic Wpn - At level 8, the final clickey is obtained.
It adds 1d8 electric, and 1d8 sonic, plus the 2d8 massive crits bonus.
Obviously, this is a very nice damage bonus early on, as your best
level 20 weapon is probably a +5 spear with 1d6 acid or something. At
level 30, it will be a +8 spear with 5d6 acid, fire, cold. As you can
see, the 2d8 really starts losing ground as epic levels are gained.
*Electrical Resistance - At levels 1,4,7, you gain 5,10,15 electrical
resistance. At level 9, you gain COMPLETE IMMUNITY to electrical!
* Storm Avatar - At level 10, you can cast an automatically extended version
of Storm Avatar. Fortunately, this spell is cast at your CHARACTER
LEVEL, NOT your StormLord level. So a level 30 character gets a huge
60 rounds of Storm Avatar! (6 minutes realtime)
This may only be done ONCE PER DAY though.
Storm Avatar does the following:
- First, it sets you to 200% normal speed. This does not stack with
haste, etc, but double speed is pretty nice.
- Secondly, it adds 3-18 electrical damage to every attack.
- Third, you are IMMUNE TO KNOCKDOWN. Really great ability.
- Fourth, you are IMMUNE TO MISSILE WEAPONS. Also excellent.
* Last, but definitely not least, the SL gains FULL DIVINE SPELLCASTING
ability. This is incredible, since most Prestiege Classes have to
sacrifice some spellcasting levels to "balance" the class.
Example: Eld Knight, Warpriest, Sacred Fist, Palemaster.
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III. Prerequisites
------------------
With all these nice abilities, they aren't gonna just let you in for free
right? Course not!
The following things are needed to take the class:
* Toughness Feat - This is a nice feat anyways, so not many complaints.
* Weapon focus - Must be wpn focused on a SL-weapon. This should ALWAYS be
the spear since that is your only melee choice. Once again, a great feat
for a warrior so no complaints about having to take it.
* Great Fortitude - Yuck. I do not much care for this feat, especially as
divine classes have strong fortitude saves in the first place. This feat
is pretty much a crap-feat that you have to take to get SL access.
* +4 Fortutude Saves. NOT +4 BAB! This isn't a problem with the high divine
saves, plus the +2 from the Great Fort feat you are stuck with. In fact, I
am not exactly sure how one could get level 3 divine casting without having
+4 fort saves... maybe with a 6 CON or something.
* Level 3 divine spellcasting. No worries for primary casters which can
qualify early on. Pallys/Rangers would need 12 levels before they gain
their first level 3 spell. Techically it is 11 levels since they gain
0 spells but with high WIS can receive a 3rd level spell. I don't think
the game considers this though.
Hey look at the bright side. In PnP, you have to worship Talos, be nonlawful,
AND survive getting struck by Lightning! Obsidian was easy on you. ;-)
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IV. The Downsides of StormLord
------------------------------
All this good stuff gained has some downsides.
* First, divine caster classes are usually a bit strapped for feats. Hence
coughing up the 3 prereq feats early on could be a problem. The Great Fort
is basically a wasted feat.
This is ESPECIALLY true if you are trying for a hybrid style of play,
and trying to take both caster feats AND warrior feats.
* A -1 BAB could result in some cases. For example, a 20 cleric has 15BAB.
A 10cleric/10SL has a 14BAB. Not a huge deal, but consider that those
9th,10th levels of Stormlord will almost always cost you 1BAB.
* Epic Feats lost - This only applies for pure clerics. A level 29 druid
gains 3 epic bonus feats (23,26,29). A 19druid/10SL gains ZERO bonus
epic feats. This warning primarily applies for those
who plan on using spells for most of their offense.
* Skills - Prepare to re-work your skill plan, cuz Stormlord is probably
lacking several of the skills you planned on taking. See Skills section
for details.
* More clicking - Remember. Every 20 rounds, you must click the Magic Button
in order to get the 2d8 zap/sonic +2d8massive crits damage bonus. This
gets old... especially if you already have to keep up with buffs.
---------------------
V. Playstyle Analysis
---------------------
As I mentioned earlier, the SL is not very versatile. For the most part,
your character will be a melee-centered warrior, that uses lots of buffs
to pump themselves up. This is definitely the most effective way to go
for all the classes.
It is possible to use some offensive spells, but will be ineffective due to
your low Difficulty Class (DC) of your spells. As a melee warrior, you will
want to raise STR primarily, and not use points to pump up WIS. You also
won't have enough feats to do any spell focus or casting prodigy feats to
help the DC.
As a cleric or favored soul, forget offensive spells. Druids and Spirit
Shamans will have better luck.
A. Throwing Weapons
-------------------
One benefit of SL is you may use throwing weapons more effectively. More
effectively than WHAT becomes the main question though... It is doable, but
is unlikely to be very impressive. Heres why:
When you attack with a spear, you have the spear enhancement, weapon focus,
and use your high STR to all raise your BAB high.
Using a throwing weapon loses ALL of the preceeding bonuses. A level 20 char
for example might carry around a stack of +2 darts. This is simply because
you are unlikely to be dragging around 100s of +5 2d6elemental darts.
Instead of using a +5 spear for example , the +2 darts are used.
Instead of your high STR helping you to hit, your very average DEX value is
used as the To Hit attribute. No weapon focus loses another 1ab.
Basically, expect your throwing weapons will likely be at -10AB or more.
Even in spite of this, I have to admit that 1d3 +5 +2d8 is a lot better
than 1d3 +2 when it comes to damage.
Note that you need Martial Weapons to toss Axes, and Exotics to use shuriken.
Flurry/Greater Flurry allows bonus shurikan attacks, as does Rapid Fire feat.
B. Spear 2handed
----------------
This is the standard method of fighting. You gain 50% of your STR as a bonus
for using a 2handed weapon. Plus power attack gains double the bonus.
However, you lose your shield bonus. This is a big deal, as a level 20 cleric
is GUARANTEED to have a Magic Vestmented +5 heavy shield worst case. Thats
-7AC, in exchange for a moderate offensive bonus.
The point here is that clerics almost always use 1hander + shield. A shield
is really helpful when you are casting in combat. A 2handed weapon is NOT!
Plus, clerics gain a lot of "static bonuses", and do lots of damage through
Divine Favor, Battletide, Prayer, and so forth. They don't usually have
the huge STR that a Red Dragon Disciple uses to put that +50% STR bonus to
good use.
Since your HPs are good, but not great, you will want some damage mitigation
of some kind. Stoneskin works great, as does Premonition. In epic levels,
these might not work so hot.
In conclusion, if you go with 2handed spear, you need to hit HARD. Go for
maximum strength, take cleave if possible at all, and plan to use Power
Attack. To balance out the previous shield statement somewhat, a shield
does NO good whatsoever if you are fighting spellcasters, whereas a 2hander
can help put them down faster.
C. Spear 1handed
----------------
This is the category I would recommend to most Stormlords. Use the MONKEY
GRIP feat, which allows you to use the spear in 1 hand. Sure, you eat a
-2 AB penalty, but that should not be a huge problem. In return, you get
your big Shield AC back. I think -2AB and 1 feat for +7AC is a good deal,
don't you?
You could make a good argument either way with 1handed or 2handed, so choose
which path you wish to take. Remember that you can always drop the shield
as needed to gain the 2handed bonuses back.
D. Spear dualwield?
-------------------
Don't even think about it. One could theoretically take 21 ranger, monkey
grip, and get 12 attacks with spears! 14 with haste!
However, lets look at the penalties.. -2AB Monkey grip,
-2 dualwielding, and -2 for non-light offhand weapon.
Total of -6AB penalty for doing so. Ouch!
Rangers have no good AB pumping spells either, so this is a clear loser.
Non ranger wise, one would require a lot of DEX to hit perfect 2wpn. Taking
up to greater 2wpn would be dumb, as Id rather have 6/7 powerful attacks,
than 9 wimpier ones at a huge penalty.
Finally, the graphics aren't there. It looks like you are beating things over
the head with two really long clubs. Not at all cool.
Dualwield would definitely be interesting, but I don't recommend it.
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VI. Divine Classes
------------------
So which classes work best with the Stormlord? I will go over them now:
1) Cleric - Cleric is the best choice in my opinion. Clerics gain ZERO
special abilities from levels 2 to 20. Replacing 8 levels with stormlord
gains nice stuff for practically NO loss. Taking 10 will cause a small
BAB penalty, but is not a big deal.
Clerics also can choose domains which give them bonus feats to help the
prerequisites a bit. I recommend Time and Earth. These allow persistent
haste(!), stoneskin, premonition, and 2 bonus feats including 1 prereq.
The only thing clerics lose out on is their Turn Undead ability. Consider
that most melee-clerics multiclass, which ruins their Turn anyways.
Heavy armor proficiencies are also helpful to cleric/stormlords. They also
gain many many buffs that strengthen them defensively AND pump their AB
significantly.
From a RolePlay perspective, a cleric could choose AIR domain to pick up
Call/Chain lightning. It wouldnt be very effective, but quite good for
a true StormLord feel.
Note that an Offensive Caster would NOT benefit from stormlord much. The
prereq feats required for SL would take away needed feats like spell focus,
empower, maximize, and so forth. I would avoid SL in this case.
2) Favored Soul - These are a close second to Clerics in utility. The FS
is strong as they can cast whatever buff or spell they need in a situation.
This really helps the flexibility of the character.
Note that FS will usually crank up CHA instead of WIS. The FS gains extra
spell slots from this, but can also benefit from CHA-based goodness like
Divine Might/Shield/ high Saves from Pally/BG/Lok. This can be put to
excellent use with certain builds.
FS also come with Weapon Focus, so all you have to do is worship a diety
that favors Spear, and you've got 1 prereq down.
There are a few problems with FS/SL combos though. First of all, FS does
not come with Heavy Armor proficiency. This can be worked around through
cheating..er.. I mean Mithril Full Plate, which is considered Medium Armor.
The PnP purists will note you still should need Hvy Armor proficiency, but
whatever. So anyways, at higher levels, lack of Hvy Armor isn't a problem.
Also, FS actually gain useful abilities as they level. Hence, by taking
stormlord, you delay or eliminate nice stuff like Weapon Specialization,
energy resistance, haste, Damage Reduction. This is slightly unfortunate,
but you typically take 12FS and 10SL, so you only lose the Haste, Damage
Reduction, and 2 elemental resists.
Finally, the DC of the FS offensive spells is truly horrible. As they don't
normally pump WIS, even a warrior-cleric has stronger offensive spells.
In other words, a warrior cleric will have 16 to 19 natural WIS, pumped up to
at least 19 and potentially more. A FS will have WIS at 8 in most cases.
Plus, there really arent any "RolePlay" approved spells to cast! With no
domain access, there is nothing except Storm of Vengence to use for flavor.
3) Druid - I think druids are the best Roleplay choice for Stormlord.
However, they certainly aren't the strongest choice! Druids have the
following traits:
They have more offensive spells than clerical base spells. Call
lightning, lightning storm, and storm of vengence are nice flavor spells.
In addition, there are plenty of other solid offensive spells.
They also get good defensive buffs with barkskin, stoneskin, premonition,
and others. Freedom of Movement +Tortise Shell is really strong.
This does tend to lead towards a hybrid style of play, with so-so WIS, and
STR, vs focusing totally on melee as a cleric/FS does.
Druids gain many nice abilities on level up that are lost when taking SL,
and one of the best is their pet. A level 10Druid/10SL with a level 7 bear
is just sad. No amount of buffs will make much difference to help it.
Wild shape, venom immunity, and other abilities will likely be gone or nerfed.
Druids also lack Heavy Armor, which may be worked around fairly easily.
Druids lose skillpoints taking SL, since they get 4 per lvl, vs 2 like
clerics, pallys, Fav Souls.
All in all, druids do alright, but are not the optimal choice for SL for
pure fighting. They are better as a mediocre hybrid style character.
4) Spirit Shaman - I think these are a slightly better choice than druids for
taking StormLord levels.
They suffer from most of the same problems, except worse! They are stuck
with light armor only, which might be problematic.
They have a TON of special abilities as they level, which will be delayed
or basically eliminated by taking SL.
They also effectively lose skillpoints by taking SL, same as druids.
However, a Spirit Shaman could have a low WIS and use an item to gain
spell access (just like warrior clerics do).
Then, they crank up their CHA really high. This would allow the
Shaman to gain CHA-based goodies like Divine Might/Shield/saves, AND
actually have pretty powerful offensive spells! This might be a good way
to play a SS/StormLord combo, and be fairly good RP-wise.
I believe this ability here really makes the Spirit Shaman a better choice
than druid since they can have solid offensive casting combined with decent
melee.
5) Paladin - A paladin could take Stormlord after 12 levels to gain the
needed 3rd lvl divine spells. Hence, I include it as an option, although
it is not a great idea.
Taking 10 levels of stormlord adds 10 levels of divine spellcasting, with
3/4ths BAB, and 8 HPs per lvl.
All things equal, would you rather have a stormlord with 10 levels of
clerical/druid casting, or 10 levels of paladin/ranger casting?
Obviously, the clerical/druid spellcasting is much more powerful, and a
better use of the Stormlords full spellcasting progression.
Hence, paladin/ranger wastes much of the StormLord's potential right there,
not to mention that taking SL drops the paladin's HPs and BAB some as well.
In spite of this, paladin does have several advantages. Due to the high
CHA, you get great saving throws, and access to Divine Might/Shield.
Your BAB will be higher than that of a cleric/druid, and you get full martial
and armor proficiencies.
Fortunately, paladin spells are pretty decent, and have some strong offerings
such as Holy Weapon, as well as Resist Energy, Bless, Aid,
and other solid clerical staples.
Lastly, Paladins gain Smite Evil which is pretty strong in conjunction with
high CHA and the Stormlord spear bonuses.
6) Ranger - Last and least, I cannot think of many good reasons to go with
Ranger with Stormlord.
A big ranger benefit is their 6 skills per level, which get downgraded to 2
when taking SL levels.
Plus, their full BAB which gets downgraded to 3/4ths BAB.
Their pet gets downgraded to utter uselessness. A 10ranger/10SL has a pet
that is like level 3. Tragic.
The solid Favored Enemy, which progresses exponentially is diluted heavily.
Rangers gain a Combat Style, which means Archery or Dualwielding. Neither of
which work very well at all with StormLord.
While you can theoretically dualwield spears OR toss enchanted projectiles,
neither is particularly strong.
The ranger spells are rather lousy too, making it very difficult to imagine
much synergy at all with Ranger/StormLord.
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VII. Skills
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Skills are an often overlooked area with Prestiege Classes. The Stormlord
has ONLY the following skills:
Concentrate - Good. Everyone will want to max this.
Craft Alchemy - /shrug
Intimidate?!? - Yep, while all divine classes get Diplomacy, the Stormlord
winds up with this! Wierd, and will affect your speaking for sure. Plan
on sinking 2x points to continue Diplomacy if that is your chosen route...
Lore - Pretty much all classes get this as a skill option.
Spellcraft - Handy for the Save bonus, and also allows possibility of getting
Epic Spells!
Survival - /shrug
Wait a second...
Dude, where's my Heal skill? Gone.
Whut about my craft armor/wpn? Gone.
Spot n listen? Nope, gone.
Keep this in mind when making a stormlord as several of your previous
class skills will wind up becoming cross-class.
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VIII. Feats Recommended
-----------------------
This is a bit out of the scope of this guide, but heres some feats to
look for:
EPIC Armor Skin - +1 AC stacking is decent.
Blind Fight - Just about mandatory for melee builds.
Cleave - great with 2handed style
Disarm - Nice if you have space for it.
Divine Shield/Might - Obvious if you have the CHA for it, and Turn ability.
Extend Spell - Nice to extend them buffs.
EPIC Divine Might/Shield - Requires a specific build, but powerful!
EPIC Prowess - Yeah, pick this up.
EPIC Great STR/CHA - Take as appropriate.
Greater/Epic Wpn Focus - If you have 8 fighter, this is a strong option.
Knockdown - always nice to have.
Luck of Heroes - A KEY feat. Very strong.
Monkey Grip - Essential for 1handed style.
Persistent Spell - Great for cleric and maybe favored soul: haste, div favor
Power Attack - Key for 2handed style. Prereq for Divine Might/shield.
Practiced Caster - This is good to add 4 caster levels when multiclassing.
The idea is to make your spells hard to Dispel, and increase duration.
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IX. Other recommended multiclasses
-----------------------------------
There are several classes that would combo quite well with a StormLord.
1) Fighter - Ideal for giving extra feats, needed to satisfy prerequisites.
Can take some fighter levels in epic levels to pick up free epic feats.
2) Frenzied Berserker - Provides toughness, as long as you can take 1FB
before taking any SL levels. Also, supreme cleave and super power attack
are really nice to have when playing with 2handed spear style. 5 levels
of FB work excellent.
3) Paladin/Blackguard - These give Turn Undead at level 4/3, which may be
used for Divine Might/Shield. The saving throw bonus is really nice too.
Pallys can make use of Smite Evil too.
4) Barbarian - Rage is fairly handy with 2handed style to crank up the damage
done, since rage stacks with enhancement STR,CON bonuses.
5) Warpriest - Great for rounding out casting levels while keeping a great
BAB. Example: 8cleric/8stormlord/10WarPriest = 21 casting lvl. Or
4cleric/10SL/8WP/8fighter for 18 caster lvl.
6) Divine Champion - Similar to Fighter, except you lose 1 feat but avoid
any XP penalties from fighter multiclass. Not a bad option, especially for
a higher CHA baseclass like Favored Soul, Spirit Shaman.
Classes to Avoid:
1) Red Dragon Disciple - They are really good, but bard/RDD plus whatever
divine class +Stormlord = your 4 classes. Your BAB will stink, and you get
no possibility of bonus feats. Clerics/FS can always Divine Power their way
out of this problem, but it makes them very buff-dependent.
I mean, it is not a BAD way to go, just not optimal with stormlord.
2) Monk/Sacred Fist - SF and SL do NOT work together well. Avoid at all costs!
3) Weaponmaster - This takes up too many levels for itself and corresponding
fighter levels to be effective. You would need a build like
8cleric/9SL/6Fighter/7Wpnmaster. It would be fairly lousy, and remember
that Wpnmaster is not nearly as good as it was in NWN1.
4) Warlock - The save bonus is great, but class limit ruins this one.
If you added Blackguard, divine, Stormlord, and warlock, you would gain
saves, but lose nice abilities from Frenzied Berserker or Fighter, or
some other class that would help your melee.
Pally/BG buys you a lot more for their 2-4 levels than 1 warlock would.
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X. Build Examples
------------------
Here are 3 builds, using Cleric, FavSoul, and Spirit Shaman which are my top
picks. There are tons of different style combos, so I try to mix and match to
demo several ways of playing.
A. Divine Cheeze - Strong 2handed spear build. If you went Aasimir and
tweaked stats, could get EPIC DIVINE MIGHT for lategame!
The idea is to do heavy spear damage and use supreme cleave with enhanced
2handed power attack to rip through foes quickly.
FavSoul12/FrenBer5/BlackGuard3/StormLord10 24bab. Nonlawful Evil
STR 17 +7pumps +4GreatStr = 28
DEX 8
CON 14
WIS 8
INT 11
CHA 16 (need big CHA item)
1: FS - Pwr Atk, Cleave
2: FS
3: FS - Great Fortitude
4: FS
5: FS - Gain Elemental Resist
6: FS - Great Cleave
7: FS
8: FS
9: Frenzied Berserker - FreeTuffness Wpnfocus: Spear
10 FB - Free Supreme Cleave
11 StormLord
12 SL - Practiced Caster
13 SL
14 SL
15 SL - Extended Spell
16 Blackguard - Gain Proficiencies
17 BG - Gain +Saves
18 BG - Divine Might or Shield.
19 SL
20 SL
21 FB - Armor Skin
22 FB
23 FB - Gain Super Duper Pwr Atk, Great STR1
24 SL -
25 SL - Gain Immune Zap, Great STR2
26 SL - Gain Avatar
27 FS - Great STR3
28 FS - Gain Elemental Resist
29 FS - Great STR4
30 FS - Gain Wpn Spec
3 skills per level:
maximum concentrate
10 tumble (20 pts)
5 hide (10 pts)
max spellcraft
B. Clerical 1handed Stormlord - This is a high BAB build that uses 1handed
spear and shield for fighting (300 style).
It also has a pretty decent caster level of 26, making its buffs very hard
to dispel.
Note that it can make use of Divine Power, but can fight pretty well even
with no short-term buffs, especially with persisted Haste, Div Favor, and
Prayer.
Cleric8/SL8/warPriest10/fig4 Human (cast lvl: 21+4), BAB 26
str 17 +7pumps +4GStr = 28
dex 13
con 14
int 10
wis 14 +Item: minimum of 19.
cha 8
Domains: Time, Earth
1: cleric - luck of heroes, Great Fort, Free toughness, Imp Initiative
2 c
3 c - wpnfocus: spear
4 c
5 c
6 cleric - Monkey Grip.
7 Stormlord
8 SL
9 SL - extended spell
10 sl
11 sl
12 sl - persistent spell
13 sl
14 sl
15 cleric - Combat Casting
16 cleric
17 Warpriest
18 WP - practiced caster
19 wp
20 wp
21 fighter - blindfighting, Great STR 1
22 fighter - epic prowess
23 fight - Great Str 2
24 WP
25 fighter - ArmorSkin, Great STR3
26 wp
27 wp - Great STR4
28 wp
29 wp - ??? your choice.
30 WP
C. Spirit Shaman hybrid caster/warrior that uses high CHA for spells/abilities.
The high CHA makes this build an effective offensive caster using the solid
druid offensive spells. Expect a DC of 31 for Lightning Storm, with probably
+4 more from a +8CHA item.
Fighting-wise, the character has a 22BAB with marginal AB bonuses otherwise.
Not a great warrior, but not bad. One can easily swap out CHA for STR to
help the fighting capability if desired.
Fighter is taken early on to provide heavy armor capabilities.
Divine Shield is handy to add a +7AC for 7 rounds, usable 10 times per day,
and a +CHA item can exponentially expand this power up to +13AC/13rnds/16x.
Human SpiritShaman16/SL10/Cleric2/Fighter2
STR 14
DEX 8
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 14 (needs +5 item for spellcasting)
CHA 16 +7pump +3Great CHA = 26 natural.
skills: 6 per lvl. Go UMD, tumble, spellcraft, concentrate, 2 others.
1 SS - Casting Prodigy, Great Fort
2 Fighter - Power Attack
3 SS - Prac Caster:Sp Shaman
4 SS
5 Fighter - Monkey Grip
6 SS - Toughness
7 SS
8 SS
9 Cleric - War,Luck (free wpnfocus:spear,Luck of Heroes), Divine Shield
10 StormLord
11 SL
12 SL - Extended Spell
13 SL
14 SL
15 SL - Empower Spell
16 SL
17 SL
18 SL - Maximize spell
19 SL
20 SpShaman
21 SS - Great CHA 1
22 SS
23 SS - Great CHA 2
24 SS
25 SS - Great CHA 3
26 SS
27 SS - Epic Spell: whatever
28 SS
29 SS - Armor Skin or Epic Prowess.
30 Cleric (or Fighter..does not matter)
variants: Replace cleric/fighter with Pally and go Aasimir. Requires major
feat overhaul since losing 5 feats.
variant2: +1SS, -1fighter. Lose 1BAB, gain spirit walk.
----------------------------------
XI Caster/Archer build and theory
----------------------------------
I said earlier that stormlord is melee only. This is not quite totally true.
You see... several throwing weapons are also included as stormlord favored
weapons. Among these are the dart, shurikan, and throwing axe. This
clears the way for an archery based build.
I would like to credit F. Ortigosa for emailing me and pointing out this
possibility.
Throwing weapons are weak in general and not worthy of building around them.
However, it is possible to make a cleric/stormlord that functions as a
"caster cleric" and uses throwing weapons as a backup weapon. This works
because of several positive interactions:
a) The stormlord does not adversely affect casting. It takes away some
feats, but is manageable. The main problem is that you lose your
free epic feats at cleric 23,26,29.
b) A caster cleric has uber WIS, which opens the door for Zen Archery.
c) The stormlord enhancement and damage bonuses are especially good for
throwing weapons, which normally have no enchantment.
Keep in mind that this character is a CASTER first and archer second.
Thrown weapons have the following issues:
a) You go through stacks of them like crazy!
b) They wont have any +damage or enhancement cuz its too expensive.
c) No special materials such as admantine or cold iron so damage reduction
ruins your day.
But, a few modifications to a standard offensive caster cleric can provide
your character with a decent backup missile weapon that can even be used
with a shield! Also you get the ability
to use a spear in melee with improved effect, although that is not
recommended due to lack of a shield.
Here is a sample build:
Cleric 20/Stormlord10. Race: Aasimir. (Human works fine too)
Domains: Earth and Water or Air or Fire.
-- Earth for good defensive spells and the prereq to speed up stormlord.
-- Water/Air/Fire for offensive spells (fireball, call/chain, icestorm)
STR 14
DEX 8
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 18 +2 Aasimir +7pumps +3Great WIS = 30
CHA 8 +2 Aasimir
I dumpstat DEX as an item gets it to 12 for max benefit in full plate.
Later, a +8 item gives you 16 for max benefit with mithril full plate.
1 cleric - Spellcasting Prodigy.
free evasion from Water domain.
free toughness from earth domain.
2 cleric
3 cleric - Weapon Focus: dart
4 cleric
5 cleric
6 cleric - Great Fortitude
7 Stormlord
8 SL
9 SL - Empowered Spell
10 SL
11 SL
12 SL - Maximized Spell
13 SL
14 SL
15 SL - Spell Focus: Evocation
16 SL
17 cleric
18 cleric - Greater spell focus: evocation
19 cleric
20 cleric
21 c - Great WIS 1
22 c
23 c - Great WIS 2
24 c
25 c - Great WIS 3
26 c
27 c - Epic Spell: Vampiric Feast
28 c
29 c - Practiced Caster (due to bug it pumps caster level bonus in epic)
30 c
It is not as good as a pure caster, but it is reasonably solid and has much
more longevitity.
Pure Caster spell DCs at 30:
10 +3 epic spell focus +4 epic caster bonus +11 WIS +1 caster prodigy
= 29 + spell level.
This build:
10 +2 great spell focus +4 epic caster +10WIS +1 prodigy
= 27 + spell level.
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XII. Conclusion, Copyright, and Contact info
-------------------------------------------
This guide is copyrighted by Randomsome1. However, you may post it or
use it as you like as long as no contents are changed.
If you have any observations, questions, or comments, please email me at:
joemama1512@SPAMBEGONEhotmail.com and add NWN2Guide in the Subject.
Remove the SPAMBEGONE part of course.
(I would probably miss any email in my spam-filled regular email, hence
the usage of my other account...)
I hope you enjoy the guide and find it helpful.